SOLGEL PREPARATION OF NANO PARTICLES OF CEO-CUO2 AND THEIR CHARACTERIZATION

ABSTRACT

In this study, CuO/CeO2 Nano- particles were successfully prepared by sol gel method. In this synthesis process, CeriumNitrate[Ce(NO3)3 6H2O], Copper Nitrate Cu(No3)2 .3H2O and Ethanol (CH3CH2OH) were used as starting materials . Poly vinyl alcohol(PVA) is used as the solvent for forming sol-gel. XRD pattern of fresh CuO-CeO2 indicates a cubic fluorite structure with highest intensity at (1, 1, 1) plane, this peak at 28.59 belongs to CeO2and there is one small peak related to copper oxide nanoparticles at 35.44 . The calculated average crystal size of dominant peak at 2θ of 28.59 using Debye-Scherer formula comes out to be 11.8nm.    The UV-Vis absorption spectrum displays a sharp optical absorption edge at around 385 nm, which is associated with an energy gap at 3.04 eV .This absorption is interpreted by the O2p → Ce4f electron transition in CeO2. samples showed a significant red-shift in the absorption edge and absorb light in the visible region. Fourier transformed infrared spectra for the sample shows that wave number  550 cm−1 corresponds to the Cu-O. No absorption bands related to nitrates were found, indicating that the preparation conditions and heat treatment were effective, resulting in the formation of catalysts containing only CuO -CeO2 The wave number 1631 cm-1 is bending vibration O-H of adsorbed water bond and absorption bands in 3200-3600cm-1 are hydrogen bonds which indicate the amount of moisture is absorbed.

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